Virginia Flaggers Bring Heritage of Hate to Lexington

The annual parade in Lexington, Virginia celebrating Lee-Jackson Day is going to look very different today. That’s because the local Sons of Confederate Veterans camp and the Virginia Flaggers were peacefully outgunned by the Community Anti-racism Education Initiative, a local organization, which applied for a permit to reserve the day before the other two organizations. CARE will march to commemorate Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Flaggers and SCV will march tomorrow. In addition, the Flaggers will raise another roadside battle flag just outside of town. The last flag was raised on the private property of Raymond Agnor, who made his views of African Americans perfectly clear.

In all of the coverage of the Flaggers presence in Lexington what I don’t understand is why the local media in Lexington and Rockbridge County does not do a better job of informing their readers/viewers about their activities and membership.

The Flaggers have protested any number of decisions made by the city and local institutions like W&L, including the removing Confederate flags from public light poles and from inside the Lee Chapel on campus. That is their right, but this organization has welcomed into its ranks some pretty unsavory characters over the years and they have never been called on to answer for it. Local media has a responsibility to report it.

Want to know what these people really believe? Start here with a piece I wrote this past September for The Daily Beast.

Kevin,
Be honest. You know perfectly well that the CARE group is doing nothing more than engaging in Race-Baiting.
The proof? Their stubborn refusal to trade days for parades. Your article neglected this important, in fact crucial, point.

CARE is the bad actor in all this- their provocation was unnecessary and originates in ill-will.
They don’t care a bit for Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr- they only want to stir up trouble.
They are motivated by the same sort of destructive “social justice warrior” Big
Lie which encourages dissembling and urges provocateurs on to upset local conditions.

The disingenuous character of their cynical, self-serving statements is clear to anyone in full knowledge of the facts.
Your article does nothing to expose this and only exacerbates the propaganda war. Whose side are you on? The Truth – the Whole Truth- or the CARE version?
CARE seems to have found in you a “useful idiot” to promote their cause.
When a group deliberately sneaks in to be a dog in the manger and bogart a parade day, it is they who are at fault.
Have some intellectual honesty – it’s an unfortunate situation all round- but put the blame where the blame is due – on CARE.

Don’t castigate the local media when you conveniently neglect or intentionally refuse to provide the whole story yourself.
Please inform your readers about CARE’s activities and membership. Be fair.
Consider this: is it possible that what you can’t understand about the local media is that, unlike yourself, they seem to want to maintain a modicum of journalistic ethics – which possibly you don’t seem to think applies to you as a “historian”?
They are trying to avoid Fake News – you are engaged in setting up Fake History.

You seem to know quite a bit about CARE, but have not provided a shred of evidence in support of any of your claims. On the other hand, you have not provided a shred of evidence to challenge any of the claims I have made about the membership and activities of the Virginia Flaggers. Very telling indeed.

West Virginia was still part of Virginia when Jackson was born and really still should be Virginia. Of course the Federal government was perfectly okay to allow a part of a state to illegally secede from another state but said it’s not okay for eleven (13 if you count KY and MO) Southern States to secede from the union.

You know, I absolutely HATE, political correctness……in ALL forms. I would most definitely support Lee-Jackson day, always have, and I always will. Perhaps the War ended the best way it could have, I will not debate that, but ever since I was a child, I have felt a kindred spirit to those who fought for the Confederacy, including my ancestors. I hold absolutely no animosity toward them at all, as perhaps it is because they were my blood, those who in a totally different era, fought for what THEY believed to be right…that of the right to keep those who invaded their homes and their land, out! We can only surmise as to the differences of the thought processes during those times, but yet we tend to judge the South as nothing but WRONG, and of course, the North………RIGHT?. Well, I do not subscribe to the idea that Gen Lee was all wrong or that, that great Gen Jackson, was wrong too. They stood up, unlike a lot of people today, who succumb to political correctness, for what they thought and believed to be right, in their eyes. They loved their State, it was uppermost in their eyes and minds, unlike today, where no allegiance really exits at all, except for money! They stayed true to their State, and you cannot fault them for that. They thought that, that was right, unlike today, as they cannot fathom that idea at all. I KNOW, that they were NOT traitors, and I am adamant in that belief. I am proud to be Southern, and proud of where I came from and who my progenitors were and I do not and will not, bow to what others today want me to stop believing. Am I a racist, I would hope not, but I still honor that flag that my ancestors fought for, even if it wasn’t for slavery itself. They, like most, even in the North, still didn’t consider blacks as equal to Whites, and that was just the way it was, despite what those of today would have you believe. The times were different, and there is nothing that we can do about that, and no amount of rationalization can change it. I am proud of who I am, proud of where I came from, and if you don’t believe like I believe, then I guess that’s just too bad, because I will not change for you or anyone else. I WILL, honor both Gen Lee AND Gen Jackson, Hero’s in my eyes, and I do not care who knows that. Political correctness is for cowards, afraid of what others think of them. I am not. Virginia was once a great State, now she has sunk to the whims of others and has given up her individuality to become too politically correct!!

Kevin, I do not purport to be a reporter. You, as the poster of the blog, have the responsibility to do your homework; not just make casual attacks on some folks and careless support for others because the one group reinforces your views and the other does not.
Telling? What is it you are NOT telling us?

Apparently race baiting for you means challenging the lie that you perpetuate with your activities. The Virginia Flaggers stand for racism, discrimination, and lying. That organization exists to perpetuate the lies of the lost cause.

FACT: The Civil War was caused by slavery.
FACT: Jefferson Davis began the war by ordering the attack on Ft. Sumter, the legal property of the United States of America.
FACT: The main purpose of the Confederacy was to protect slavery.
FACT: Abraham Lincoln had the constitutional right to put down the unconstitutional rebellion and did so.

So go ahead, David. Lie about these facts while you go out today and honor slavery and racism. You want fake history? Look in the mirror while you talk. You want real history? Read what the very people you purport to honor said. The only thing you do is dishonor them today by denying what they were doing.

Ending slavery was certainly not the primary goal of the United States from the beginning to the end. The goal was preserving the Union. Slavery became a way to do that by 1863. The goal of the Confederacy from beginning to end was the preservation of slavery and white supremacy.

I agree, and History records – slavery was an issue of contention, but the main issue, was to preserve the UNION. There were abolitionists on both sides and slave owners on both sides. General Robert E. Lee, acquired by inheritance, George Washington’s slaves. As executor of the estate, and husband of Mary Custis, he worked to free these men and women as per Washington’s will.
This task was made difficult for him, by the outstanding debts of the Washington estate, which had to be settled.

The SCV is primarily a historical preservation society, with a mission of veteran’s service. Looking after the monuments, grave sites, and true history of the war, is a task that benefits the entire nation.

If you are not already a member, now would be a great time to seek out a chapter, and look to join. We are always looking for men with a true heart for service and history.

Not true. What Lee got were the descendants of slaves who had been granted as a trust to George and Martha Washington, and reverted back to the Custis family’s ownership upon Martha’s death. All other slaves owned by George Washington were freed in his own will.

Also, as Mark “Taxsanity” Curran has mentioned, Lee violated the will of his father-in-law by not freeing the slaves within 5 years, and ignored court orders trying to enforce the will/

If the war had ended before the end of 1863 it is likely that the United States would have continued as a slaveholding nation. Of course, the war continued and slavery ended with it. That is something that all of us can celebrate. If the Confederacy had proved victorious the enslavement of roughly 4 million people would have continued. We can all be thankful that it failed.

In defending Southern heritage we have not stooped to the levels of vicious attacks our opposition has.. we have held our heads high as we should. The liberal pc agenda machine has caused more tension than our beautiful flags do.. we deserve to honor our ancestors just as any other American. The more we are attacked the stronger the fire in our gut burns. God bless the opposers of fake liberal tolerance..!! Deo vindice….

I have been to many SCV meetings, never once has the topic on the agenda been: anything resembling “the Romance of Slavery” or “How Slavery can return” or “Why Slavery was good for Negroes,” or any other such nonsense. Many Blacks are members of good standing in the SCV. They clearly know the futility of judging the past, by the standards of the present.

The SCV is not about a secret conspriracy of “the South Shall Rise Again.” The only militia training is antique war re-enactment. Since the days of its inception, there has never been one single moment of official SCV business devoted to “how to keep negroes in their place.”

You are probably confusing the issues of reconstruction, the Klu Klux Klan, and other white supremist organizations. Democrats, like Robert Byrd, and Woodrow Wilson are far more amenable to white supremacy, than the SCV.

The tension of Federal power vs. States rights continues to be a topic of politics to this day. SCV members recite the Pledge of Allegiance to Old Glory, at ever meeting, and at public meetings on every occasion. SCV members hold different personal opinions about the merits of federal powers, but this is not the mission of the group.

The problems of blacks in America, have far more to do with the internal strife of the modern Democrat party, than military events of 150 years ago. The destruction of the Black family by Democrat Federal Programs has been well documented.

The Blacks who avail themselves of membership in the SCV, are uniformly God fearing, family oriented, educated, and prosperous. Why? Because they honor the past and revere character. If more black men today, adopted these timeless values, the problems of Blacks in America, caused by dependency on failed Democrat programs, would vanish.

I’m not a “pc liberal” and I have no use for the confederate flag or confederate “heritage.” More and more people who are similar to me feel the same way.

I don’t think anyone’s been prohibited from possessing a confederate flag as an individual. No one’s been prohibited from honoring their confederate ancestors as an individual. That’s not the argument, people don’t want to see governmental entities endorse the principles of the confederacy by having displays of flags and other memorials to that cause on public property.

Having those emblems of white supremacy on public grounds as a memorial is an insult to persons of color and to people everywhere who find the principles of the confederacy unpalatable.

They have no business being on property by which the ways and means of public governance occurs as those flags and memorials exist as residue of the attempt to create a nation where human beings would be held as chattel as a result of pigmentation. Instead, the confederacy belongs in a museum, where its remains can be interpreted and taught rather than worshipped.

You have not stooped to the level of the “liberal pc agenda” but people determined to “uphold the legacy of the south” or some such twaddle, people like you, have stooped to the level of murdering people in churches. I know this isn’t quite as evil as holding a legal parade for one of the best human beings America has ever produced, but you can see why people find murder concerning….or is that too much to ask for?

Also, how come American hero Martin Luther King Jr isn’t part of “Southern Heritage”? Surely you guys would want to appropriate one GOOD person to your cause and he is a gen-yoo-wine Southerner. Hell, he was more of a Southerner than literally anyone I have ever met that owns a Confederate flag t-shirt. And he didn’t hate America like Lee or Jackson did.

God vindicated the United States of America. If He wanted to vindicate the Confederacy and the institution of slavery, He would have done it 150 years ago.

Stoop? Let me know when you rise up out of the pit of ignorance and racism you have constructed out of the lost cause lies. If you want to honor your ancestors acknowledge what they were protecting; the institution of slavery. They took the time to write down their reasons for their actions. Why do you have to lie about those reasons? Are you embarrassed that they fought to protect slavery? Are you embarrassed that the committed treason? Are you upset that they were traitors?

I’d be happy to hear someone explain, concisely, exactly why it is that CARE Rockbridge should be expected to give up the event date that they had reserved like any other private organization. Certainly if the situation were reversed, the Virginia Flaggers in the SCV would not be willing to do the same thing for CARE.

There is an unstated but very real subtext to these complaints that the City of Lexington should have held that date open for the SCV to file their paperwork at their leisure, that the Confederate Heritage groups should be given preference or right-of-first-refusal over other private organizations in the community. That’s nonsense.

Dear David,
From what I read the CARE group is made up of local citizens in the area who were tired of seeing a parade of people from all over the country (as the Virginia flaggers state in their latest blog) in their neighbourhoods. The Confederate flag bearers would often end their celebrations by driving through historically black neighbourhoods on MLK day shouting profanities. I know I would have a hard time witnessing that behaviour in my community. I don’t know the details but it seems CARE didn’t petition to ban a confederate parade, just to prevent the visitors from having it on a day that is meant to celebrate equality and promote equality in their community.

It appears that the Flaggers and their ilk will become embolden by the results of the last election, which is ironic because Trump supported Nikki Haley in her decision to remove the flag in Columbia, but I think their support of Trump will begin to wane because he is starting to step back from some of his controversial positions he took in the campaign. The fact that the Flaggers supported Trump, after he agreed with Haley’s action, proves that they are all about present day politics and not about history or heritage at all.

Their hearing is selective, like a spoiled pet that can hear the refrigerator door open from three rooms away.

Early in the presidential campaign, Ben Carson was asked about the Confederate Battle Flag. He compared it to a swastika, said its place was in a museum, but allowed that individual communities should decide for themselves. What did the heritage folks hear?

A lot of people are complaining that the Virginia Flaggers bring hate and intolerance to Lexington. You can thank Washington and Lee University and CARE for that. Thank W&L for removing the Confederate Battle Flags from Lee Chapel thanks to some hateful, intolerant students. Thank CARE for being hateful and intolerant of Confederate History by disrupting the SCV march, which ironically, was on the day before MLK’s actual birthday. If CARE really wanted to make a statement, they would have held their march on Sunday, January 15, (‘Reverend’ King would no doubt have approved of having a march on his actual birthday) which would have allowed the SCV to have their march and the Flaggers would probably not have come to town erecting giant Confederate Battle Flags that are far more visible now than they ever were before. As much as I hate to admit this, I cannot blame the Lexington City Council for this except to say they banned all flags on their flagpoles except for the US, Virginia and Lexington City flags. As long as they apply this ordinance fairly, I have no problem with it. We all know the ordinance was passed due to the Confederate Flag presence, and the city council is hostile to the Confederacy. That’s neither here nor there. The bottom line is that the SCV, whatever you may think of them, has been holding this march since 2000. Both Lee and Jackson, the men for whom the state holiday is named, are buried here. Where better to have a Lee-Jackson Day march? Washington, DC? Harlem? The hate and intolerance of the left is driving what you call hate and intolerance from the Flaggers. That should e obvious to all.

The SCV is not being prevented from honoring Lee and Jackson. CARE took steps to secure permits to march on Saturday. I actually believe they did intend to pull the rug out from under the Flaggers and SCV and they have every legal right to do so.

“Thank CARE for being hateful and intolerant of Confederate History by disrupting the SCV march, which ironically, was on the day before MLK’s actual birthday. If CARE really wanted to make a statement, they would have held their march on Sunday, January 15. . . .”

By that standard, the Virginia Flaggers and the SCV would’ve scheduled their parade for today, January 19 (Lee’s actual birthday), or Saturday, January 21 (Jackson’s actual birthday), or Friday, January 13 (the Commonwealth’s official observance of Lee-Jackson Day). But of course, they didn’t.

You can’t very well criticize CARE for scheduling their event on a Saturday, in the hope of encouraging maximum attendance, when the heritage folks wanted to do the same thing, for the same reason.

If you want to call it criticism that’s fine-I just call it the way I see it. If CARE had scheduled their parade on Sunday the 15th I am sure their attendance would have been about the same. As Kevin pointed out, CARE had hoped to undercut the SCV and did so. I do believe the SCV had originally scheduled their parade this Saturday the 21st, Jackson’s birthday, but they changed it to the 15th (ironically). As long as an event of this nature is on a weekend, it really does not matter if it is on a Saturday or Sunday. I believe even the actual Lee-Jackson Day holiday, which is on a Friday, would be a good day to have an event in honor of these men-with proper planning of course.

You (your side, perhaps not you personally) criticize, or call it the way you see it, the Flaggers for their putting up giant Confederate Flags on private property. They are contacted by citizens who want the flags on their land. They are just tapping into their resentment at governments and other entities disrespecting Confederate Heritage. Instead of getting indignant about these giant flags you should be relieved that they can’t afford even larger flags and flagpoles, which are readily available. If I personally were to do something of this nature I would be far lower key about it and use far smaller flags and poles. However, the Flaggers have chosen their own method and it seems to be working, despite naysayers’ opinions to the contrary.

On that note, Kevin has mentioned that each and every time a government entity removes a Confederate Flag or other symbol and a giant flag is raised, it is another defeat for the Confederate side. I will respectfully disagree with Mr. Levin on that one. The more flags there are, the more visible they are. In other words, the object of their game is visibility. Visibility attracts attention which attracts members and $$$. In that category they are winning uncategorically.

I will respectfully disagree with Mr. Levin on that one. The more flags there are, the more visible they are

Not all Confederate battle flags are equal. No one has ever denied anyone the right to raise a flag on their private property. The removal of Confederate flags from public spaces and other institutions, however, is a decisive shift for communities of different sizes. The Virginia Flaggers have not succeeded in returning a single flag that has been taken down by a city or other institution to its previous location. No number of flags on private property will change this fact.

“No one has ever denied anyone the right to raise a flag on their private property.”

I believe Rockbridge County is doing that very thing as we speak, citing zoning ordinances. They of course are not alone. Several localities have tried to find loopholes in the law to prevent these massive Confederate Battle Flags from flying. The one placed by the SCV in Tampa, Florida in 2008, before the Flaggers were an organization, drew condemnation from the city council and the NAACP and they both tried very hard to find an excuse to make them remove the flag. A man in South Carolina put a very large CBF up on his own property and the same thing happened-they tried very hard to find a reason it could not fly legally. So you see, Kevin, make no mistake-governments are trying very hard to deny the people their right to fly very large Confederate flags. This goes back to my original point, which I believe you have been missing. Governments are removing Confederate Flags and symbols. This cannot be denied. They are not being replaced on government property. This also cannot be denied. Private property is the last resort. Most people fly 3×5 foot flags on their lawns or houses on a 15 to 20 foot flagpole or on a 6 to 8 foot pole attached to a bracket on their house. Governments are fine with that because they are not visible to a large population at one time. When you take a 20×30 foot or 30×50 foot flag on a 90 to 130 foot flagpole, however, governments that have removed Confederate flags from public property are angered because they have been circumvented. They do not want very large Confederate flags to be visible to a large number of people lest people think negatively of their city or county. The flag in Tampa drew massive media coverage precisely because of how large it is and where it is. Estimates of over 100,000 people see that flag every day and that’s just one flag. This is why I disagree with you about the placement of each very large CBF being a defeat. I am sure each one of these very large CBFs have inspired many people to buy a smaller CBF for their own property. In other words, it has gotten very personal.

As an afterthought, neighborhood associations also have rules about which flags and the size of the flags you can and cannot fly, even on your own property. So people can and have been denied the right to fly a Confederate Flag on their own property.

Rockbridge County claims that the flag violates an ordinance. There are laws.

This goes back to my original point, which I believe you have been missing. Governments are removing Confederate Flags and symbols. This cannot be denied. They are not being replaced on government property. This also cannot be denied.

Of course flags are being removed from public property. It is being done through elected representatives.

The flag in Tampa drew massive media coverage precisely because of how large it is and where it is.

I am sure that it the case, but notice that the coverage has nothing to do with Confederate soldiers or anything related to history. In fact, that is why organizations like the United Daughters of the Confederacy worked so hard to limit the display of the battle flag at the beginning of the 20th century. They were worried about just this kind of misuse of the flag.

It looks as if the Rockbridge County flagpole (not the flag though) violates three different ordinances and laws. The necessary homework was not done there. Usually this is not the case. That does not take away from my point that governments are doing their utmost to ban the display of Confederate Flags, the CBF in particular. The ‘misuse’ you speak of regarding these flags is a direct result of governments removing Confederate Flags and monuments. Removing one Third National Flag from the Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History, otherwise known as the Sutherlin Home and the Last Capitol of the Confederacy, resulted in over a dozen very large CBFs raised in that city. Banning CBFs from the outside of the Confederate Chapel created the Flaggers in the first place. As a sign in the CARE parade succinctly put it-hate cannot drive out hate. Perhaps they should listen to their own advice.

Governments are trying their utmost to ban PRIVATE displays of the CBF. I thought I had made that point clear. If the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts has the right to remove a CBF from its property, then private citizens certainly have the right to display CBFs from their private property without harassment from local governments as long as laws and ordinances are complied with. Governments are angry that citizens display a symbol that they find offensive but that is too bad. The Flaggers did not do their homework on the Rockbridge County Flag and it will most likely come down and a smaller one will be put up in its place. This is the only flag I know of that has violated local laws. Also, as we are talking tax dollars paying for maintenance, my tax dollars pay for a lot of things governments do which I oppose. This does not mean I harass government officials at every opportunity opposing those things. Government’s job is not to harass citizens whose views they do not agree with.

“The Flaggers did not do their homework on the Rockbridge County Flag and it will most likely come down and a smaller one will be put up in its place. This is the only flag I know of that has violated local laws.”

The very first highway flag they put up more than three years ago, on I-95 at Old Bermuda Hundred Road, also was done without the proper permits. There may have been others, I don’t know, but there’s a history there.

In the Rockbridge County case, they’ve been mostly silent on the permitting issues that have come up since their ceremonial flag-raising over the weekend. They declared victory and went home, leaving the property owner to sort it out for himself.

Local governments HAVE gone to extreme lengths to ban private displays on private property of symbols they do not approve of. This they do NOT have a right to do but they HAVE done so or attempted to do so, even when said displays are within the confines of the law. One example: there is a police officer in Georgia that flies a normal size Confederate Flag on her own property. She was fired for it. She is suing the department over her right to free speech. If she had the flag on her car when she parked on city property that is an example of private display on public property which the city would have a right to correct. Local governments have also tried their best to stop these very large CBFs in several states like the one in Tamp which I have previously mentioned. There are many other examples of governments trying to ban private displays on private property of symbols they find offensive. THIS is what I oppose and governments do NOT have a right to do. It is called discrimination and harassment and I believe it is fueling what the Flaggers have been doing.

I hope I have finally made this point clear. Thank you for allowing me to post here.

“One example: there is a police officer in Georgia that flies a normal size Confederate Flag on her own property. She was fired for it. She is suing the department over her right to free speech. If she had the flag on her car when she parked on city property that is an example of private display on public property which the city would have a right to correct.”

She was flying the flag at her home with her marked, city-issued patrol car parked in front. (That’s why it was reported to the Roswell PD in the first place.) Please don’t ignore important elements that are relevant to the case.

I know that I my employer thought I was bringing discredit or disrepute to the organization in my private actions away from work, I should expect there to be consequences for that.

“Should the city have reserved a reservation slot rather than processing the reservations first-come first-served?”

That’s what this is really about — the SCV lolled around and assumed it was “their” day, only to discover that another group had followed the set procedure and reserved the date months beforehand. The mature thing to do would be to chalk it up as a lesson learned, resolve not be so complacent in the future, and move on.

The newest flag in Lexington….a 20′ x 30′ raised just West of town on Rt. 60, owes it’s very existence to C.A.R.E. Rockbridge. When word spread of their intentions to disrupt the Lee-Jackson Day commemorations, we received a call from a local citizen who wanted to raise a flag in protest of what this group had done.
Rockbridge County officials got word of what was being planned the day before the installation and immediately began trying to stop the flag from going up. News of their actions, and the attitude and behavior of the head of the Rockbridge County Office of Community Development, spread quickly through Lexington, and as a result, we have received THREE offers of land for additional flag site in Lexington, SO FAR.
Seems like Lexington may be in the running to be our next Danville. 😉
“All we ask is to be left alone…”